The aim of this workshop is to stimulate cross-fertilization of research efforts on the large number of little-explored Sino-Tibetan languages and dialects spoken in Sichuan and abutting areas. To what extent do features shared by several languages of the area reflect deeply entrenched borrowings? To what extent do they constitute retentions? These and other intriguing questions prompted researchers at the Institute of Linguistics at Academia Sinica to organize in 2008 a workshop dedicated specifically to Tibeto-Burman Languages of Sichuan (http://typology.ling.sinica.edu.tw/old_201106/TB_of_Sichuan_eng). A second edition (http://ccl.pku.edu.cn/zmy/) of the workshop was hosted by the Center for Chinese Linguistics of Peking University in 2010, with an emphasis on ‘Principles and Practices of Reconstruction’.

This edition’s special focus is on ‘Sino-Tibetan Languages of Sichuan in their Areal Context’. The conference will include a panel on Rgyalrong and Kiranti comparative morphosyntax.